If you’ve reached the point where it feels like you’ve binge-watched everything, Netflix has given us a timely treat: a new reality dating show with a ludicrous, novel premise. “Too Hot to Handle” has managed to attract so much hype over its release weekend, but what exactly happens in the show?
“Too Hot to Handle” invites ten young and attractive singles to live amongst each other in a lavish Mexican villa. The catch is, they are not allowed to engage in any sexual contact – doing so will result in a deduction of the prize fund, which is $100,000. The contestants are self-described ‘commitment-phobes’ and had been chosen due to their tendencies of avoiding deeper, emotional connections and opting for casual sex in their own love lives. “Too Hot to Handle” encourages the contestants to look past the surface and form relationships not based on sexual chemistry alone.
Over the course of the show, contestants participate in ‘workshops’ that really hammer in the premise of getting in touch with your emotions – notable examples are an all-girls workshop in which they closely examine and learn to love their vagina, and for the boys, a workshop in which they rub mud on each other and simultaneously address their deepest fears. Their temptation is tested with new contestants arriving over the course of the show, and contestants who do not progress on their emotional journey are given the boot.
Their behaviour is monitored and observed by Lana – an omniscient, Alexa-Siri type presence – who announces when rules have been broken, and in some cases, deciding when couples who have formed a genuine connection get a ‘green light,’ a short period in which they are free to do whatever they want.
Laura Gibson, from the production company Talkback, cites Tinder as one of the inspirations for the show:
“It seems like people get their dicks out within two messages on Tinder. I was like, surely love doesn’t have to start with a dick pic,” says Gibson.
“Too Hot to Handle” is, arguably, the perfect snapshot of culture today, encapsulating superficial dating-app culture, to the presence of the all-seeing AI, even to the ‘no touching’ aspect, an idea that clearly holds some weight in today’s age.
The show, which was #1 on Netflix’s Top 10 over the weekend, represents another step in Netflix’s foray into reality television. Until recently, Netflix had yet to conquer reality TV, with the most popular reality dating shows being broadcasted on traditional TV outlets – take ABC”s “The Bachelor” in the USA, or ITV’s “Love Island” in the UK.
However, Netflix has released several shows in recent months that could change this – “The Circle,” a social-media based reality competition game, and “Love Is Blind,” another reality dating show. “Love Is Blind” boasts a similar premise: contestants cannot see each other at all, and must decide to marry someone based on emotional connection alone. The show also performed well, occupying the #1 slot on the streaming platform during its release week.
In reality TV, Netflix is somewhat ahead of the curve – by introducing new releases with new premises, the streaming giant is avoiding the viewer fatigue that other reality shows are expecting. Love Island, which many consider to be the blueprint for shows like “Too Hot to Handle”, experienced this during its last season: after the record-breaking success of its 2019 installation, Love Island looked to emulate this success by introducing a winter series of the show, which normally aired in the UK summer.
The first winter series of Love Island debuted in February of this year, and viewership of the first episode dropped considerably, the show’s lowest number since the 2017 series. There is a clear feeling of ‘too much, too soon’ amongst viewers, a pitfall Netflix needs to avoid if it wants to continue dominating reality TV.
As with all reality TV, what matters is not the critical reception, but the viewership, and Netflix’s accessible platform has made it even easier to engage in the likes of “Too Hot to Handle.” Netflix has all the resources to conquer reality TV, but only time will tell if it can result in a lasting shift.
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